Penn State Child Molestation Scandal

This just reeks. Not only did people abuse power, but I can't believe that Joe Pa really didn't pursue it further. He's an icon and nobody would have blamed him for blowing the whistle on these activities..in fact, it would have bolstered his iconic status. I can't help but see Joe Pa in a different light. Granted he's not the one to blame, but when a person holds that much clout, he has to make the right choice regardless of status and/or threats (maybe?) from the A.D. to keep quiet.

I'd gladly take an assault charge to stop this from happening if I had the unfortunate experience of walking in on something like this.

 

That's what I mean. If Joe Pa called the cops, the man has enough clout in the state that there would have been 100 staties and every sheriff in the county on campus in mere minutes. Something tells me he was forced into keeping a lid on it with threats, but to not go against those threats does nothing but tarnish his reputation (assumption? yes.)

 

I kind of feel like if I saw someone I liked and respected raping a child, my brain would totally shut down. I know it's easy to say "I'D GO IN THERE AND FUCK THEM UP" and that's certainly what I want to hope I'd do, but I think there's a very real chance that level of cognitive dissonance would put me into overload.

I can't imagine not reporting it to the police after the fact, though, which is the most astonishing part of this entire affair. The fact that so many people knew about it and decided to just let it go by without a word is horrifying. I would also agree that there is no chance Joe Paterno didn't know about this and chose to do nothing about it. Going to be a pretty black mark on his legacy.

 

I guess I don't see it the same way you guys do. The intern who originally blew the whistle is the current wide receiver coach/head recruiter for Penn State. He saw something completely unexpected and had a "WTF?!" moment. I don't find it hard to believe that he didn't know what to do or who to report it to, especially since he was all of 23 or 24 at the time. He asked his dad, who told him to talk to Joe Pa.

Let's remember that Sandusky was retired and not officially part of the program at the time of the report. Joe Pa does what he was supposed to do and reported it up the line. He "assumed" it would be handled. Apparently it wasn't. It makes an ass of Joe Pa (see what I did there?) but it doesn't make him a bad guy. He's a football coach, not someone who deals with pre-teens on a daily basis. His job is to win games, and he's paid a whole lot of money to do that. He also has folks are supposed to do things for him to allow him to focus on his job - and the AD was the right person to go to. He did that. Should Joe Pa have followed up? I'm disappointed that he didn't, but I also know that in his shoes I may not have wanted to know the answer.

Anyway, it sounds like Joe Pa may be done. http://espn.go.com/college-football...ittany-lions-call-joe-paterno-news-conference. Sad to see if it's true.

 

the_jazz

I agree in one sense, but in another, I'd really like to know how much Joe Pa knew and when he knew these things. If he chose to protect the program instead of going to the police, then he's really no better than the rest that are involved. I certainly hope that isn't the case. I'm not surprised to see Joe Pa and the President losing confidence votes. Something of this nature is going to naturally cause casualties for many careers, even if they are innocent. Something about the Joe Pa situation stinks..I just can't figure out if he was threatened to be quiet or if he knew and protected the program instead.

 

Glory's Sun, I think he was an old football coach who'd never had anything remotely like this happen before and did his best to get it to the right person. He shouldn't have called the police - the intern should have. JoePa didn't see anything. The AD should have investigated, and as soon as he figured out that a kid was in the locker room with Sandusky, he should have called the cops. He didn't and he should go to jail for that.

I think that the "what and when JoePa knew" question has pretty much been answered. Any delays were in the neighborhood of 24 hours or less, which isn't optimal, but is also understandable - at least by me. Remember that these are folks used to dealing with college students, not middle schoolers. It's outside their normal experience.

 

It's hard to disagree with any of that, Borla. That said, I don't think that it's something that JoePa should be fired over - or have to resign over. The guy that saw it? Absolutely. The guy whose responsibility it was to investigate? Absolutely. Joe Pa? It's hard to see how he's at fault for anything other than "should have followed up". If he'd seen something, that's something altogether different, and they should slap the old bastard in jail over it. But it didn't happen.

 

I'm in complete agreement with Borla on this one. He's pretty much said what I was thinking.

 

Joe Pa and the University's president Graham Spanier need to resign immediately if they want to salvage the reputation of their university. If they don't, then Penn State will be the shamed for decades to come, harming the university beyond repair.

Joe Pa just announced that he would retire at the end of this season. It's not enough, Joe. You screwed up, big time, you need to go...now. You don't deserve to coach another game after this disgusting cover-up.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-wetzel_parting_paterno_do_it_now110811

 

i understand following the chain of command. but if i walk in the showers and see what he saw, i become the chain of command.

 

The messed up thing is that no one in the chain of command that new about this abuse called the cops. Not Joe Pa, not the president of the university, not the athletic director...no one.

 

thats right. thats why i would have been the chain of command. right or wrong i would ahve whipped his ass then called the cops. who knows it could have been my kid or my friends

 

Yeah. I understand all these rallies on the Penn State campus to support Joe Pa, but it shows a real lack of perspective. I get it, Joe is a god in Happy Valley. But imagine if that was your child, nephew, grandson getting raped. Would you be satisfied wish Joe's response?

 

There's no happy ending to this story. As someone who grew up in State College, this all breaks my heart

 

hell no, if it were my kid, i'd proablly whip his old ass too

 

Penn State's president is resigning today, according to this article.
--- merged: Nov 9, 2011 7:31 PM ---
I'm hoping Paterno follows right behind him.